MoInEd

I am the new owner of a 2018 Q7 (progressive) with factory hitch.
We have a single axle trailer (3200lb dry, 3800lb loaded with around 400lb ball mount load) that I have been pulling with our Acura MDX so far (towing capacity 5000lb).
MDX manual does not recommend using weight distribution hitch (WDH) but I have been using one for two years without any problem. I am just mindful of how much upward push I create with the spring action of WDH; not too much.

Now with Q7, I understand it is 7700lb towing capacity with 770lb tongue weight. The silly part is that it wants it's own very short receiver/ball mount that has no more than 6" (or 6.5"?) from ball to the receiver pin. My simple calculations suggests that if that distance is to allow for 770lb tongue weight then another receiver hitch with, say, 10" distance between ball and the receiver pin should easily support 500lb tongue weight as the force seen at the pin point is the same.

Question 1: am I not right to assume I should be fine using a different receiver hitch/ball mount minding the reduced tongue weight it can carry?

As for the issue of WDH: before buying the car I got a loaner one to take home and test drive with pulling our trailer. It pulls much easier than the MDX BUT without WDH I notice a lot of play/noise of the trailer bouncing up and down at the ball mount. It simply does not have the smoothness of the ride with a WDH. So I am trying to figure out what would be a reasonable compromise. I think a lot of these "rules" added to the manual are just to cover worst case scenarios and situations that they have no control over (e.g. how much the consumer is putting up-ward pressure at the ball with a WDH, and how they can control it; so it's safer to simply ban it outright). I am thinking with a reasonably mounded WDH specially the low weight of my trailer (less than 1/2 the capacity of Q7 hitch) I should be fine using a WDH.

Question 2: Has anybody practically tried this or can somebody explain any good reasons why the Q7 original hitch cannot be used with a properly tensioned WDH?

thanks

gsobol

You should be fine with a longer receiver hitch, you will not be overloading vehicle capacity, so you will be fine.

Without WDH hitch load balance is a bit more crucial for stable trailer pull. Sometimes that means you have to move the ball up or down to change the load balance and tongue weight. Not enough tongue weight can cause unwanted upward movement, more noise and play and stability issues, I'm going to assume based on your questions that you know what you are doing and that was NOT the case, in which case I would assume the noise was normal, just not something you are used to.

The reasons for why WDH hitch is not recommended by Audi are not explained anywhere in the manual or in any of their documentation. The current theory is that it could cause unwanted twisting motion and potentially rip the hitch off the vehicle. Again, with your lower load that shouldn't be an issue. There have been some postings on this forum where people have used WHD hitches - no damage reported. Although there was one damage reported, but not sure if it was due to WHD hitch or improper install of the hitch.

MoInEd

Thanks for the respond.
Regarding the WDH: aside from distributing the weight to front axle and back of the trailer it has the benefit that there is less of a play at the ball and that is noticeable with every bump on the road. Without the WDH and especially with a single axle trailer the play in connection causes the noise I am not used to (like pulling a light and unloaded utility trailer).
The case you refer to that there was damage using WDH, what kind of damage we are talking about? hitch separating from the car or...?

dreadlocks

there's a guy with a Q5 that ripped his receiver off when he went over a speed bump with a WD hitch, its not a theory.. it puts tons more force on the hitch setup and chassis than a normal hitch.. if you look at the way they are designed they hang down from the bumper support and that is leverage.. CanAm was modifying MK1 Q7's to support WD hitch by adding a support to handle this leverage:

I tow at full capacity without a WD hitch, got air suspension and dont need it.. tows great.

MoInEd

Did a little bit digging on how the hitch on Q7 is mounted. Looking at how the hitch is mounted on Q7 vs other vehicles (e.g. my MDX) it appears that the bolts are under "pull out" stress whereas on other hitches (such as MDX) the bolts are under shear strength. I installed the hitch on MDX myself and the (after market) hitch allows to be used with WDH and the eight bolts holding it in place (4 on each side) are parallel to the axle of the vehicle. Looks like the ones on Q7 are along the length of the vehicle. That might be part of the reason.

dreadlocks

if its just noise you want to rid of might look at installing this setup on your trailer:
I'm going to be converting my camper over to that setup before next season, I dont do any extreme offloading w/the trailer but getting it in and out of dispersed mountain sights makes me weary it'll pop off.. I've read they are very quiet.

another option might be a hitch with a shock absorber, https://www.etrailer.com/Ball-Mounts...all/AMSC2.html

or just load your trailer up correctly, sounds like its not got enough weight on the tounge.. 400# on ball is the low end of what you want thats only 10%.. 15% is ideal, and its better to be heavy than light on the tongue.. I'd rather be at 20% than 10%

dnbbauers

Even with a trailer properly balanced, the receiver and hitch rattle horribly and if the trailer is empty, the kids think that the rear end of the car is falling off. I have tried numerous mounts and they all fit the receiver the same. Looking into an anti-rattle device like THIS

Anyone with experience using one?

dreadlocks

how are you weighing this? if your trailer is lifting on the hitch its not heavy enough on the tongue.. empty trailers going to need ballast, I mounted the spare tire and big metal tool box up there to keep weight on the tongue when pulling it empty.. heck throw a sandbag or three up there... keep adding weight to the front til it rides right, thats pretty much your only recourse.. WD hitch if your too light on the tounge is just going to make a bad situation worse as far as stability and correctness..

that rattle thing is for receiver mounted accessories like a bike rack, or cargo carrier.. its not going to do anything to stop a trailer coupler from rattling around on the ball.. and I doubt its strong enough to support a trailer.

Ive got about 700# on tounge with a 5000# trailer, until I hit a huge bridge gap I dont hear anything in vehicle unless I'm taking off from a complete stop then there's a lil clunk from the hitch going from front loaded to rear loaded.

MoInEd

I understand and agree that more weight on the tongue reduces that rattle sound quite a bit but doesn't eliminate it when you get into a bump on the road. There is the play on the ball, plus the play of the receiver hitch in the hitch (up and down as well as forward/backward due to the small play in the pin).

dreadlocks

thats just part of towing bro, drive more and worry less. your auditory sanity is not enough justification to disregard the engineers that designed your vehicle..

I've surely broke 100k miles towing in various vehicles with various rigs, aint no rattle given me any grief.. its just reminding you its still there.. you should try towing offroad sometime if a bridge gap bothers yah :P

When I towed with my Golf it had a fixed hitch that had zero play, still had trailer rattling around on the back when unloaded.. though when I put extra heavy ply radials and shock absorbers on the trailer it really smoothed out the ride when it was fully loaded, on a nice highway could completely forget you were towing if you were not careful.. but you hit a bump, and you'd hear a clunk, physics.. That lock and roll hitch setup is the only one I seen designed to have no play, from the reviews I've read its so quiet its unnerving for those used to the rattle.. https://locknroll.com/

I think it would be easier to fix the trailer with some mods, they are the source of the noise.. Some rigs ride pretty quiet, others sound like hell is breaking loose and everything inbetween.. just leaf springs? is it tandem axle? those are terribly noisy and will only ever work good when you have at least 80% load on em.. there's some options like torsion axles that ride great when unloaded or loaded since they adapt to the weight (they are also silent), there's other things like shocks and stuff you can add to leaf springs to help em absorb bumps better.. tires also make a huge difference, make sure you got radials and not bias ply crap that just vibrates horribly, I even get my trailer tires balanced which gets me some weird looks at the tire shop.

ps: if you want a quiet ride, my first piece of advice is dont have any kids.. my second is dont tow anything :P